RENTON — He’s back — practicing.
Is Uchenna Nwosu going to be all the way back, to play for the first-place Seahawks in their biggest test yet this season, in Detroit?
Seattle’s most important and best linebacker practiced Wednesday for the first time in one month plus one day. He’s missed the first four games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He got that when Cleveland guard Wyatt Teller chop blocked him in the first quarter of the final preseason game Aug. 24.
Wednesday, he was one of the first starting defensive players on the indoor field to warm up for practice. He smiled and playfully gave a “hang loose” sign to reporters as he began stretching.
He was not wearing a brace over the knee, but a sleeve over his left leg. He appeared to jog and move fluidly in the 10 minutes or so of practice the media was permitted to watch.
How he and his knee respond to practices this week will determine if the outside linebacker and team’s leading pass rusher plus edge setting against the run makes his season debut Monday night for the Seahawks (3-0) against the Lions (2-1) at Ford Field (5:15 p.m., channel 4).
“We’re going to put him out there…and see how it goes,” coach Mike Macdonald said Monday.
The Seahawks did not put Nwosu on injured reserve to begin the season. That would have required him by NFL rules to miss at least four games.
Detroit is Seattle’s fourth game. The initial idea was for Nwosu to play by this game Monday night.
As Macdonald said last week about Nwosu: “That would justify not putting him on IR.”
The Seahawks started converted end Dre’Mont Jones for Nwosu at outside linebacker the first two games and Derick Hall last weekend in their win over Miami. Coaches have also used Trevis Gipson increasingly in each of the first three games there. The team traded last month for Gipson from Jacksonville days after Nwosu got hurt.
Boye Mafe has remained the starter at the other outside linebacker spot.
Hall and Mafe share the team lead with three sacks each through three games.
What the NFL’s fourth-ranked defense so far this season misses with Nwosu is his skill at playing every down, setting the edge, taking on blockers and tackling ball carriers against the run, and in pressuring quarterbacks.
The Seahawks re-signed him to a $45 million contract before last season, following 2022 when he co-led the team with 9 1/2 sacks. He tore his pectoral in the sixth game of the 2023 season and missed the final 11 games of last season.
If he plays at Detroit it will be Nwosu’s first start since Oct. 22, 2023, against Arizona, the day he tore his pectoral.
Walker, Williams, Murphy status
The Seahawks are not required by NFL injury-reporting rules to report practice participation this week until Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That’s because of the game being Monday night.
The team will issue its official injury report for the game with out, doubtful and questionable players Saturday, instead of the usual Friday for a Sunday game.
So when asked about lead running back Kenneth Walker (oblique), defensive end Leonard Williams (ribs) and top rookie defensive tackle Byron Walker (hamstring) Wednesday, Macdonald said: “I’m going to wait on the injury stuff until we are forced to tell you. …
“The reason is just because I don’t want to speculate right now, and it’ll be clearer (Thursday). If it’s clear (Thursday), then I’ll let you know.
“Yeah, let’s just leave it like that.”
Walker, Williams and Murphy were not on the field Wednesday in the first 10 minutes of optional player stretching the media were permitted to watch.
Walker practiced on a limited basis Friday before Zach Charbonnet started for him for the second consecutive game Sunday against Miami.
Walker had his cleats and helmet for the first time on the field Friday since he injured his oblique late in his 103-yard rushing day Sept. 8 against Denver, in Seattle’s opener.
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